Nine Lenses on the World

This volume is not meant to be carried to the beach on a sunny day, nor is it one to be read for light entertainment. Having delved into psychology in my university days, I am always interested in new twists in explanations of human behaviour, especially at my age, when I review my life and the twists it has taken. I find the book rich in substance without any attempt at magazine- like oversimplification of theories I found baffling years ago. It is an easy flowing description of human interaction with diagrams to illustrate points in each chapter which can easily be skimmed over. My approach to reading the book is to photocopy a chapter when I am travelling as the book is heavy, and slip it in my bag. (is this ethical?) I do it anyway and recycle it later. I am about half way through and read novels to supplement my need for entertainment. I never tire of my trusted Enneagram.Not for everyone, mind you.

Great book to use for assessment.

Jerome Wagner is a master of metaphors. In this volume he takes a comprehensive dive into each type explaining their values, idealizations, maladaptive cognitive schemas, manner of communicating, and stressful and secure conditions. This is a treasure trove of knowledge!

I have never seen a book so filled with typos in my life. Too many little ones to count, like an incorrect or missing punctuation mark, and several very serious and extremely distracting ones as well, just in the first few chapters.For instance, there is a numbered sequence that is supposed to look like: One, blah blah blah, but at around Three looks like: blah blah blah Three blah blah blah. This was confusing and distracting (and irritating considering how much money I spent on this book).I wound up returning this book due to these issues, but I have to say that the author's ideas where fascinating and well thought out, and shed new light into the sort of tired and old enneagram book arena (where authors have tended to repackage and/or regurgitate other authors' ideas endlessly). I've read about 20 - 30 books on the enneagram in the last 20 years and this is the first one in quite a long time that had something new and valuable to say.

Having read various texts on the 9 personalities described by the Enneagram, this is my favorite. The author also provides an online test which I have found to be one of the most accurate in identifying ones Enneagram character. Well written and easy to follow.